Four weeks ago as I was at a cross country meet watching my daughter run beautifully, I got a call.  She was down, injured again.  I ran to her and held her as she sobbed.  She would have done her personal best and gotten either 2nd or 3rd.  She was devastated; my heart hurt for her.  So, we took advice from friends and went to a different therapist.  My daughter got the treatment she needed but sat out for 4 weeks.  She got cleared to start running the day after her league meet.

Today was regionals.  I walked in the door yesterday morning to find her crying because she was so nervous and worried she would not do well.  Again, my heart hurt for her.  Today she took off in her race with a bit of a smile on her face, and she looked great in the first mile, up towards the front.  She came by in the second mile with a look of pain and tears in her eyes.  I encouraged her to keep going. The last time I saw her, she was looking good again.  Then she came across the finish line in 9th place...qualifying for state.  Now it was my turn to cry.  The girl who couldn't run for 3 weeks fought through the pain and achieved her goal.

She constantly amazes me; it doesn't matter what she is doing.  She goes all in.  In the past couple of years, I've watched her set goals for herself and achieve them in many areas.  She is a natural leader, and I look at her everyday and wonder what I did to deserve an amazing daughter like her.